Musical tops



Oct. 15, 1957 l.. BRUTTING MUSICAL TOPS Filed April so, 195e 2 Sheets-Sheet l @Lkw W L. BRTTING Oct. 15, 1957 MUSICAL TOPS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FigJr ao I4 19 e; 30

au a7 23 so 23 United States Patent O MUSICAL Tors Ludwig Brtting, Zirndorf, Nurnberg, Germany, assignor to Martin Fuchs, Numberg, Germany, a firm Application April 30, 1956, serial No. 581,789 Claims priority, application Germany January 27, 1956 6 Claims. (Cl. 84'-83) The invention relates to a musical top. la

Whereas, hitherto such tops were only able to sound a few chords composed of a few notes, the problem which the present invention sets out to solve is to play songs or other complete melodies by the gyration of the musical top.

The invention presents an advanced solution of this problem in that in the housing or shell of the musical top a playing mechanism consisting of a cam cylinder cooperating with sound producing elements is driven in dependency upon the gyratory movement of the top. This proposal is preferably carried into effect by imparting rotary motion to the cam cylinder through the intermediary of a gear, the ldriving wheel of which is a worm mounted on a stationary axial bearing tube, whereas the driven operating wheel of the gear is a toothed wheel on one face of the cam cylinder.

Tongues or reeds are preferably employed as sound producing elements, air passages covered by these reeds being arranged on a partition wall in the shell extending at right-angles to the axis of rotation of the top about which it is rotatable. Flaps loaded by return springs serve for opening and closing the air passages and the cams on the periphery of the cam cylinder actuate these llaps.

A particularly advantageous construction is obtained by arranging two cam cylinders tuned in harmony diametrically opposite each other one on each side of the axis of the top. In this manner centrifugal forces resulting from one-sided overloading is avoided and an improvement in the equilibrium conditions is obtained. This does not apply only to the arrangement of the cylinders but also to their drive.

In any case it is advisable to arrange axially parallel on each side of a cam cylinder a row of air passages with sound reeds and sound ilaps, because in this manner twice the number of reeds can be coordinated to a certain cylinder length, with the result that more numerous tone gradings are possible and consequently better tune reproduction is attained.

It has already been proposed to equip a musical top with musical works comprising a cam cylinder. These works are, however, driven by a separate spring motor which has to be Wound from time to time with the aid of a key. As the running-down of the musical works is independent of the gyratory movement of the top and can even take place when the top is not spinning, the relationship between gyratory movement and music necessary for a musical top, is lacking. Moreover, this arrangement only allows notes to be produced by plucking tongues or reeds. However, it is not possible to produce notes by blowing with air currents.

Other advantages and features of the invention are disclosed in the following description of the drawings, which show Fig. 1 the musical top in longitudinal section;

Fig. 2 a section on line II--II of Fig. 4;

Fig. 3 the pressure iiaps or keys partly in top plan view;

Patented Oct.` 15, 1957 ice Fig. 4 a section on line IV-IV of Fig. l, and

Fig. 5 the musical works in perspective view.

The top comprises in known manner a bottom shell half 1, an upper shell half 2, a stationary base 3 and an operating knob 4. In this knob a spiral thrust rod 5 is mounted which is guided in a sleeve 6. The upper end of the sleeve 6 is provided at 7 with a journal which takes the place of a spindle nut and imparts gyratory motion to the top when the rod 5 is axially displaced.

The sleeve 6 is guided only in a plastic cap 9 fitted on the upper end of a bearing tube 8 and its lower end runs on a ball 10 at the lower end of the bearing tube 8 provided with a reduced cylindrical end 11 which is fixed in the base 3.

A worm 12 is pressed on the bearing tube 8 and meshes with a worm wheel 13. This worm wheel is mounted on a shaft 18 carrying pinions 16 and 17 which drive two cam cylinders 14 and 15. The shaft 18 is mounted in U-shaped brackets 21 with axles 19 and 20 carrying the cam cylinders 14 and 15. The brackets 21 are mounted on a base plate 22, preferably made of plastic material which sits firmly in the bottom half 1 of the top shell into which it is rolled or pressed. Projections 23 are arranged on the base plate 22, preferably made in one piece therewith, and provided with air passages 25 corresponding in number to the number of notes. The reeds 25 are fixed under 'these air passages 24 which are covered at their upper ends by flaps 26 and 27 acted upon by springs 29 which bear at one end against the i'iaps 26, 27 and at the other end against a carrier 30, as can be seen from Figs. 2 and 5.

As can be seen from Fig. 2, the construction of the note producing elements is such that they are opposite each other. The flaps 26 consist of one piece as can be seen from the section. They are pivoted at 31 and each ap has at one end a nose 32 projecting into the path of the cams 33 on the cam cylinders 14 and 15 so that these cams effect the opening of their respective note flaps 26. As the cam cylinders 14 and 15 only rotate in the direction of the arrow, a separate pressure member 34, illustrated partly in dotted lines in the drawing, is coordinated to the note flaps or keys 27 which are pivoted at 35, this pressure member being mounted on the axle 31, as shown in Fig. 3.

If rotary motion is imparted to the top, the worm 12 remains stationary. The worm wheel 13 which participates in the rotary motion of the top, rolls on the worm and drives the cam cylinders 14 and 15 through the intermediary of the pinions 16 and 17. The cams 33 open the keys or flaps 26 and 27 and the air, entering the shell of the top through the apertures 36 and forced into the passages 24 by the air vane 37, produces the notes on the reeds 25. The air can escape into the atmosphere through the outlet apertures 38.

In addition to the advantages above described, the invention presents the further advantage that it can be used when the notes are produced by plucking the reeds, but it is also suitable for producing a Wind note with the aid of the air currents. The invention is particularly significant in the latter instance.

I claim:

1. A musical top comprising a hollow shell, a stationary base, means mounting said shell upon said base for spinning movement with respect to said base and about a vertical axis, a shaft secured to said base and extending into said shell along the spinning axis, a worm carried by said shaft within said shell, -a worm-gear engaging said worm and mounted in said shell for rotation therewith, whereby spinning of said shell causes rotation of said worm-gear about its own axis, and musical Works mounted within said shell for rotation therewith and connected to said worm-gear for operation thereby.

2. A musical top according to claim 1 wherein said shaft comprises a hollow tube, a smaller tube mounted within said shaft and having its upper end connected with said shell at the top end thereof,4 and a spiral thrust rod having a driving connection with the shell at the top thereof and extending downwardly into said smaller tube.

3. A musical top according to claim 1 wherein said musical works comprises a horizontal partition wall within said shell and provided with a plurality of air passages formed therein, and a note-producing reed mounted over each passage, a movable flap for controlling the ow of air through each passage, a spring for biasing each ap to closed position, cam means operated by said wormgear for opening certain of said flaps in a predetermined order, and means responsive to the spinning of said shell to produce a difference in air pressure on opposite sides of said partition Wall.

4. A musical top according to claim 3 wherein said cam means is divided into two axial sections arranged on opposite sides of the spinning axis of said top, whereby the mass of the cam means is balanced about the spinning axis.

5. A musical top according to claim 4 wherein the two sections of the cam means control two sets of reeds which are tuned in harmony with each other.

6. A musical top according to claim 3 wherein the means for producing a difference in air pressure on opposite sides of said partition wall comprises a series of air openings in said shell on one side of said partition wall at a given radial distance from the spinning axis, a second series of openings in said shell at the opposite side of said partition wall at a greater radial distance from the spinning axis, and radially disposed vanes mounted within said shell adjacent the second series of openings and turning with said shell about the spinning axis.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 335,843 Richardson Feb. 9, 1886 FOREIGN PATENTS 48,445 Germany Sept. l0, 1889 932,174 Germany Aug. 25, 1955 307,654 Switzerland Aug. 16, 1955 

